I am writing from the Quality Assurance department at [όνομα εταιρείας]. I'm afraid I have some troubling news about [αριθμός έργου]. Our client is not paying us due to the errors identified in the project. I realize we may have already confirmed that your deliverable did not contain mistakes, but I would very much appreciate your cooperation in accepting a 100% discount as a business gesture. You have already been paid for this job so we would apply any credit to an open invoice of yours. I realize that this is not a fair resolution to this matter and am happy to both note your cooperation in our system as well as prevent you from working for this client again so this type of resolution will not arise from them. Please confirm, we will be moving forward by close of business Wednesday, March 31st.

Best, XXX

Απάντηση:

Hi XXX

I have been cooperating with your company for the past nine years and I can't believe I lived to see this day.

You send this impersonal message (a mass email, no doubt) bluntly asking me to give you back the amount you paid me for a post-dtp QA I did for you four months ago! It’s the first time I hear from you about this, in fact it's the first time ever I hear from you as an employee of [όνομα εταιρείας], I don't have the faintest idea what this is about, yet I have to comply simply because you say so???

And the most preposterous thing of all is that you're not actually "asking" anything. You're dictating me to accept what you're suggesting because you "will be moving forward" by tomorrow afternoon!!! And what "business gesture"? "Note my cooperation in the system"? "Prevent me from working for this client"? I'm speechless…

Don't you or your company think you have any obligation to explain anything about this? What "errors identified in the project"? You just go around canceling invoices which I have already included in my books and paid taxes for and you find it professional on your part?

Please know that I am not confirming anything, I'm not considering my invoice cancelled and I won't accept any deduction from any pending invoice until I get a full explanation of what's the matter. I'm entitled to that.
Thank you.

Katerina

Απάντηση εταιρείας:

Dear Katerina,

Thank you for your email. I completely understand that you are upset as this is not a satisfactory resolution to this matter. However, I did ask that you accept this discount as a business gesture to [όνομα εταιρείας]. The discount we ask is [ποσό], which seems quite insignificant when you consider that [όνομα εταιρείας] has paid out [ποσό] over the duration of our working relationship. I ask you to reconsider and will move forward by EOD tomorrow (Friday, April 2) if I do not hear from you.

Best,
XXX

Απάντηση:

Dear XXX

I'm afraid you haven't got this right. I'm not simply upset, I'm infuriated. And not because "this is not a satisfactory resolution to this matter" but because [όνομα εταιρείας] have the nerve to dictate me to comply with your arbitrary (or should I say despotic?) decisions without providing a shred of proof.

You have unilaterally decided that I shouldn't get paid, according to your own words "you realize you may have already confirmed that my deliverable did not contain mistakes" thus exhibiting the worst of business behaviours but still you're suggesting I should make a "business gesture" towards [όνομα εταιρείας]? You're kidding me, right? After all, it's April fools’ day today.

Even more infuriating is your cheap trick of using the money I have earned working for [όνομα εταιρείας] all these years. Well, I'm not 20, not even 30 anymore, XXX. These tricks don't fool me. I earned this amount with my hard work and, mind you, I have earned triple as much for [όνομα εταιρείας] in the process. And something else: it's none of your business to know how much I earn. How low will you and your company get with this? I really wonder. This is the worst, truly the worst, behaviour I have seen from an agency in my career as a translator.

What you don't seem to understand is how insulting this whole matter is. Where are those apparent errors? I want to see them and I want a full explanation why you consider them as such. A full report. Am I clear? Until then stop wasting my time.